Xavier Becerra

Xavier Becerra, the Democratic front-run­ner in California’s 2026 guber­na­to­r­i­al race, has pledged to extend Governor Gavin Newsom’s mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions if elect­ed in November. This is a marked shift from his pre­vi­ous record as the state’s attor­ney gen­er­al, when his office defend­ed cap­i­tal con­vic­tions and pur­sued new death sen­tences. While in office, AG Becerra said he con­sid­ered cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment as a legit­i­mate option for crime vic­tims, and dur­ing his 2017 con­fir­ma­tion hear­ing, he told state law­mak­ers he sup­port­ed the death penal­ty in prin­ci­ple even as he crit­i­cized how it was car­ried out in prac­tice. He not­ed that peo­ple who com­mit ​“heinous” crimes in death-penal­ty states should face that pun­ish­ment, while also voic­ing dis­com­fort with the system’s flaws. Mr. Becerra has since said he backs Gov. Newsom’s 2019 exec­u­tive order paus­ing exe­cu­tions in the state, cit­ing the death penalty’s dis­pro­por­tion­ate impact on Black and Latino com­mu­ni­ties and the risk of wrong­ful con­vic­tions.

“As Governor, I will extend California’s mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions and con­tin­ue mov­ing our state away from a cost­ly, flawed sys­tem that dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly impacts Black and brown com­mu­ni­ties and too often gets it wrong.”

Early in his tenure, AG Becerra’s office unsuc­cess­ful­ly sought the death penal­ty against Scott Dekraai, who plead­ed guilty to killing his ex-wife and sev­en oth­ers in a 2011 shoot­ing at a Seal Beach beau­ty salon; he was ulti­mate­ly sen­tenced to life with­out parole after pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct came to light. His office also con­tin­ued to defend the death sen­tence of Robert Lewis Jr. after the California Supreme Court found in 2018 that he is a per­son with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty, thus mak­ing him inel­i­gi­ble for the death penal­ty. The fight to uphold Mr. Lewis’ sen­tence came even after Mr. Becerra had vot­ed in 2016 for a bal­lot mea­sure to abol­ish the state’s death penal­ty. Mike Farrell, pres­i­dent of Death Penalty Focus, has called AG Becerra’s role in that case ​“rep­re­hen­si­ble,” though he acknowl­edged defend­ing sen­tences on appeal is part of the attor­ney general’s job. Other report­ing has not­ed AG Becerra’s office pushed to have Mr. Lewis’ IQ score adjust­ed upward in the lit­i­ga­tion over his eli­gi­bil­i­ty for the death penalty.

Natasha Minsker of the California Anti-Death Penalty Coalition notes the office’s insti­tu­tion­al duty to defend con­vic­tions com­pli­cates efforts to read Mr. Becerra’s per­son­al views from his offi­cial actions. Mr. Becerra’s Republican oppo­nent, for­mer Fox News com­men­ta­tor Steve Hilton, per­son­al­ly oppos­es the death penal­ty but says he would rescind the mora­to­ri­um because California vot­ers twice reject­ed bal­lot mea­sures to repeal cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in 2012 and 2016. 

Moving to resume exe­cu­tions in California would face steep prac­ti­cal chal­lenges because Gov. Newsome dis­man­tled San Quentin’s exe­cu­tion cham­ber and death row hous­ing, the state has no approved lethal injec­tion pro­to­col, and rough­ly 70% of the states more than 550 death row pris­on­ers lack appel­late coun­sel as of a report issued in 2025. California’s death penal­ty sys­tem also faces an active legal chal­lenge alleg­ing racial­ly dis­crim­i­na­to­ry admin­is­tra­tion, which the California Supreme Court ordered the attor­ney general’s office to answer in May 2026. Local advo­cates, includ­ing Ms. Minsker, are press­ing Gov. Newsom to com­mute all remain­ing death sen­tences before he leaves office.

When sign­ing his exec­u­tive order insti­tut­ing a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions, Gov. Newsom said the state’s ​“death penal­ty sys­tem has been, by all mea­sures, a fail­ure.” He explained that the death penal­ty ​“has dis­crim­i­nat­ed against defen­dants who are men­tal­ly ill, Black and brown, or can’t afford expen­sive legal rep­re­sen­ta­tion… [while pro­vid­ing] no pub­lic safe­ty ben­e­fit or val­ue as a deter­rent.” The last exe­cu­tion in California was that of Clarence Ray Allen in January 2006.

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Nicole Nixon, Becerra once pushed for the death penal­ty, but says he would extend a mora­to­ri­um if elect­ed gov­er­nor, Los Angeles Times, September 8, 2026; Akela Lacy, Xavier Becerra Pushed to Inflate a Black Man’s IQ to Execute Him As California AG, The Intercept, May 19, 2026.